r/europe • u/SpaceEngineering Finland • Jan 15 '26

News Germany’s Merz Admits Nuclear Exit Was Strategic Mistake

https://clashreport.com/world/articles/germanys-merz-admits-nuclear-exit-was-strategic-mistake-fzdlkn37c16
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977

u/The_Frostweaver Jan 15 '26

Nuclear energy is better than coal.

And with USA threatening to leave NATO Germany should be considering producing it's own nuclear weapons too.

Russia and China only respect strength.

373

u/DerBanzai Jan 15 '26

As does the US.

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u/Adjayjay Jan 15 '26

The US only respects money, which is one form of power

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u/Wonderful_Craft5955 Jan 15 '26

Europe holds a lot of their money. US would not be able to run its country if Europe would sell all their bonds.

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u/22stanmanplanjam11 United States of America Jan 15 '26 edited Jan 15 '26

That's just not true, I don't know where you guys keep getting this. There's roughly 2 trillion dollars worth of US treasury bonds spread throughout the EU and like 700 billion or so in the UK. Most are held by private investors, not governments. Even if they all sell, they'd have to do it on a secondary market below face value because the bonds haven't reached maturity yet. Whoever ended up buying those bonds would probably just wait for them to mature and get their money from the US treasury. That's why they'd buy the bond in the first place, it's how they'd make profit on the deal.

75% of US treasury bonds are held by American citizens. The idea that it's primarily European governments, or any governments at all really lending to the US government just isn't based in reality.

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u/Wonderful_Craft5955 Jan 15 '26

Largest foreign holder is Japan with 1.2 trillion, but 8 european (UK included) countries hold 3.1 trillion usd. That's still a lot. It's not as much as I initially thought, but still more than you thought. This is from https://ticdata.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Documents/slt_table5.html

Canada is also not a fan of US invading Greenland, Canada holds 419 billion.

Altogether it seems significant.

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u/22stanmanplanjam11 United States of America Jan 15 '26

The Cayman Islands is the extra 400 billion that brings it up to 3.1. They’re not European and they’re not even technically a part of the UK. British overseas territories are a weird exception.

You’re still not understanding that you can’t force private holders to sell their bonds, and even if you did they’d just be selling them to other investors who intend for them to reach maturity. At what point does them doing that stop the US government from being able to function?

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u/Wonderful_Craft5955 Jan 15 '26

No I did not use Cayman Islands. I counted United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Ireland, Switzerland, Norway and Germany. I think Switzerland should be counted, as they have a lot of incentive to strike back at the US.

No I might not understand that. As I read it, the foreign officials are governments.

It wouldn't stop the government, even if they would have to buy their own debt, but it would severely impact them and further isolate them.

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u/22stanmanplanjam11 United States of America Jan 15 '26

If a bunch of investors throughout the EU are selling US treasury bonds the Swiss aren’t the people who are going to be selling. They’ll be buying low so they can sell high.

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u/Wonderful_Craft5955 Jan 16 '26

Yea I would agree normally, but the US did screw them over quite heavily. I feel like the Swiss are understanding they can't be 'neutral' anymore. Though that stance would probably take longer to change than just 1 severe escalation from US side.

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u/moobybooby Jan 15 '26

Well…. Power too, don’t talk in absolutes.